What is ParkMyCloud?

What is ParkMyCloud and how does it work?

ParkMyCloud is a SaaS platform that automatically identifies and eliminates public cloud resource waste, reducing spending by 65% or more — think “Nest for the cloud.” AWS, Azure, and Google users such as McDonald’s, Sysco Foods, Unilever, Avid, and Sage Software have used ParkMyCloud to cut their cloud spending by millions of dollars. ParkMyCloud helps companies like these optimize and govern cloud usage by integrating cost control into their DevOps processes.

Why do I need ParkMyCloud — what problem does it solve?

The popularity of cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Alibaba Cloud has exploded because they enable easy and rapid access to computing services with no upfront costs.

But hundreds of thousands of cloud customers are now realizing a downside to this ease of use: Cloud computing resources are “always on” unless customers specifically turn them off. Which means customers are paying for computing time they don’t actually use—for example, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and on weekends.

ParkMyCloud is an easy-to-use platform designed to solve this problem by scheduling on/off times (also known as “parking”) for your idle cloud computing resources, so you pay only for the resources you’re using.

Which cloud service providers do you support?

What actions does ParkMyCloud take on resources?

ParkMyCloud starts and stops resources, based upon a schedule you configure and apply. Your resources will not be terminated (except in the case of AWS Auto Scaling Groups). In AWS, ensure that you have selected stop, not terminate, as the default shutdown behavior:

In the AWS and GCP consoles, when the instances are parked, an orderly ACPI shutdown is used and they will be in the “stopped” state.

In Azure, and orderly ACPI shutdown is also used, but your resources will be in the “stop (deallocate)” state when parked.

Who uses ParkMyCloud?

ParkMyCloud is used by public cloud customers of a variety of sizes and industries, including startups through Fortune 500 companies. Customers include McDonald’s, Fox, Unilever, Sage Software, Sysco, Siemens, National Geographic, Avid, and more.

Typically, the main users at a company are the same as those who manage cloud infrastructure, which can include Development, Operations, DevOps, ITOps, or Cloud/Infrastructure/Architecture managers.

Why should I use ParkMyCloud instead of scripting my own solution?

It is certainly possible to script a straightforward resource scheduling solution within your cloud provider.

However, this is more costly than you might think: it requires developer time to create, as well as the opportunity cost of the distraction from your core business. Don’t discount maintenance time – as you add more resources, types of resources, and accounts, your developers will need to update your solution to support those. Plus, schedule exceptions always arise, which requires more costly time for your developers to communicate with internal users to override the schedules. Many of our customers ParkMyCloud’s pricing will almost certainly win out in a cost comparison.

Scripting an on/off solution is also a complex undertaking. ParkMyCloud pulls your multiple accounts at multiple cloud providers into a single dashboard and provides Role-Based Access Control, which would be difficult to script. ParkMyCloud can park instances/VMs, scale groups, and databases – all adding to the development complexity.

Setting up ParkMyCloud

What is ParkMyCloud's pricing model?

ParkMyCloud is charged on a monthly subscription basis, based on the number of cloud resources discovered in your account. There are several pricing tiers available, including a free tier. See our pricing information learn more.

There are no upfront costs, and no hidden fees.

Do I have to download any software or plug-ins?

No. There’s no downloading and no plug-ins. ParkMyCloud is completely web-based, and can be accessed from your web browser.

What time zones are ParkMyCloud schedules based on?

Each parking schedule allows the selection of a local time zone. For example, if you have a team in London, England you can select the correct GMT / UTC timezone and park instances for your UK team outside their local office hours. We recommend always adding a description to the schedules, for example, “Parked 23:00 – 06:00 London Time Monday to Sunday” to help when reviewing schedules.

Do you have a mobile app?

My Account

What access does ParkMyCloud need to my cloud account?

ParkMyCloud can manage resources in AWS, Azure, and GCP. We take a minimal approach to the permissions needed for this access. ParkMyCloud can use IAM Roles or IAM Users to access AWS, Limited Access Roles to access Azure, or Service Accounts for GCP. See more details on the exact permissions used for each of these and how to set them up.

What reporting does ParkMyCloud provide?

ParkMyCloud provides a reporting dashboard with a variety of financial, resource-based, and administrative report options. For example, see daily savings by cloud provider, or cost vs. savings, by team, or resource uptime. A full list of reports is available in the ParkMyCloud user guide.

These reports can also be downloaded, or email them to yourself or your coworkers in a single occurrence or on a regular customizable schedule.

Here is an example of a reporting dashboard:

How does ParkMyCloud handle Role-Based Access Controls?

ParkMyCloud has four user roles: Super Admins have full access; Team Leads can manage users and resources on their teams; Team Members can only manage resources on the teams to which they’ve been assigned; and Purchasers have access to billing/payment info. More information is available in our user guide.

There is also a Team structure in ParkMyCloud. Resources can each be assigned to a single team. Users can be assigned to multiple teams for limited access.

What happens if I do a free trial and then do not subscribe to ParkMyCloud?

After the free trial ends, you have the option of continuing to use ParkMyCloud with either a paid or free subscription. If you use the free tier, you can continue to use ParkMyCloud for free for as long as you’d like.

If a valid cloud provider credential is not maintained, or the account is not in good standing for 30 days, your account will be deleted. Contact us with any further questions.